Gedde Watanabe

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Gedde Watanabe
Born	June 26, 1955 (1955-06-26) (age 52) Ogden, UT, United States

Gedde Watanabe (born June 26, 1955) is an American theatre, film, and television actor.

Watanabe was born Gary Watanabe in Ogden, Utah. He was in several dramatic productions in high school, both acting and singing. After graduation, Watanabe left Ogden for San Francisco, where he hoped to make his living as a street musician while honing his acting skills.

He appeared on Broadway in 1976 in Pacific Overtures and has appeared in a number of films and television shows. Watanabe appeared on Sesame Street for some years and had a recurring role on ER from 1998 to 2002. In 1998 he was the voice for Ling in the Disney film Mulan and reprised the role for the 2004 straight-to-video sequel, Mulan II.

Watanabe's acting parts have been mostly caricatured Asians with heavy accents (although he does not actually speak Japanese).^[1] Jason Buchanan wrote for All Movie Guide, "The character that Gedde Watanabe is most remembered for is no doubt "Long Duk Dong," the spastic foreign exchange student in Sixteen Candles whose drunken fall from a tree and laughable bastardization of the English language had ninth-graders of the day rolling in theater aisles."^[2]

He had a starring role in both the film and ABC-TV versions of Gung Ho. The television series was scheduled against the hit show Dallas and was quickly cancelled. Watanabe has also provided the voice for various Japanese characters on TV's The Simpsons. From 1996 to 2003 he made occasional appearances as a gay nurse, Yosh, on the popular television drama ER. He also appeared in the film That Thing You Do as a photographer working for studio boss Sol Siler.

Watanabe co-starred as Kuni in the 1989 movie UHF starring Weird Al Yankovic. Perhaps the character's most memorable moment in the film is when he and a group of his martial-artist friends jump out of a supply closet to attack a group of thugs. The closet is labeled "Supplies," and as Kuni and his cohorts emerge from the closet they yell "Supplies!" in an Engrish mispronunciation of "Surprise!" Watanabe reprised this role on the Weird Al Show.

1 Filmography
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Movies

The Long Island Four (1980)
Sixteen Candles (1984) as Long Duk Dong
Gung Ho (1985) as Oishi Kazihiro
Volunteers (1985) as At Toon
Vamp (1986) as Duncan
The Spring (1989) as Matty
UHF (1989) as Kuni
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) as Mr. Katsuji
Boys On The Side (1995) as Steve
Perfect Alibi (1995) as Det. Onoda
That Thing You Do (1996) as Play-Tone Photographer
Psycho Sushi (1997) as Yoshi
Nick and Jane (1997) as Enzo
Booty Call (1997) as Chan
Mulan (1998) as Ling (voice)
Armageddon (1998) as Asian Tourist (uncredited)
Frank In Five (1999) as Waiter
Guinevere (1999) as Ed
EDtv (1999) as Greg
Thank You, Good Night (2001) as Cafe Owner
Slackers (2002) as Japanese Proctor
On The Couch (2004) as Charlie
Alfie (2004) as Wing
Mulan II (2004) as Ling (voice)
Two For The Money (2005) as Milton
Fortune Hunters (2007) as Mr. Yu
Sunny & Share Love You (2007) as Eliza's Dad, The Doctor
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) as Hotel Manager

[edit] Television

Gung Ho (1986) as Kaz Kazuhiro
Sesame Street (1969) episodes in (1988), as Hiroshi
Booker (1986) "Someone Stole Lucille" episode, as Max
On The Television (1990) "Babe Watch" and "My Five Dads" episodes, Various
Grand (1990) "An Obtuse Triangle" episode, as Taki Mifune
Down Home (1990) as Tran
Murphy Brown (1988) "The Bitch's Back" episode, as Guru Prem
Newhart (1990) "The Last Newhart" episode, as Mr. Takadachi
Duckman (1994) "The Mallardian Candidate" (1996) episode
Seinfeld (1996) "The Checks" episode, as Mr. Oh
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1997) "The Little Mermaid" episode, as Nuri
The Weird Al Show (1997) "Back to School" episode, as Kuni
Rugrats (1998) "Chuckie's Duckling/A Dog's Life" episode, as Kangaroo (voice)
Home Improvement (1999) "Home Alone" episode, as Nobo Nakamura
The Simpsons (1989) "In Marge We Trust" (1997) episode, as Factory Foreman (voice), "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" (1999) episode, as Japanese Father (voice)
Secret Agent Man (2000) "Uncle S.A.M." episode, as Ling
Batman Beyond (1999) "Revenant" (1999) episode, as Principal Nakamura, "Untouchable" (2000) episode, as Dr. Suzuki
L.A. Law: The Movie (2002) as Cyril
My Wife And Kids (2002) "Diary Of A Mad Teen" episode, as Dr. Phil Ling
What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2003) "Lights! Camera! Mayhem!" episode, as Vincent Wong (voice)
ER (1997) as Nurse Yosh Takata
Mulan II (2004) as Ling
Everwood (2005) "Oh, The Places You'll Go" episode, as Art
Model Family (2006) as Terrence
Kim Possible (2002) "Attack Of The Killer Bebes" (2002) and "Graduation: Part I" (2007) episodes, as Prof. Bob Chen